


the sun of the shiba

by Catory



Series: swordpoint destinies [2]
Category: Samurai Sentai Shinkenger, 手裏剣戦隊ニンニンジャー | Shuriken Sentai Ninninger
Genre: Crossover Roleswap, Episode 1 Remix, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-09
Updated: 2019-09-09
Packaged: 2020-10-13 14:16:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,273
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20583869
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Catory/pseuds/Catory
Summary: shiba takaharu is the bane of his head retainer's existence.





	the sun of the shiba

"Milord?"

The sound of steps thud down the hallway.

"Milord?!"

The sound of steps thud _ up _ the hallway, slightly faster.

"You there! Kuroko. Have you seen the young lord toda— of course you haven't. I see."

The sliding door slams open, and an old man clad in formal dress, face red in both exertion and irritation, steps out. "LORD TAKAHARU, RETURN TO YOUR STUDIES AT ONCE!"

The sun shines, and a distant whoop followed by an explosion can faintly be heard in the distance. Kusakabe, head retainer of the Shiba clan, claps one hand to his face and just barely represses a sigh. At times like this, he wistfully thinks of the day that his duty will be done. He really ought to retire soon. He doesn't have the energy to be chasing the lord around like this anymore, and his joints are vocal in their complaints.

But Kusakabe is, at the end of the day, still a professional. Loyal! Wise! Strategic! Running out of options in how to corral his wild young lord!

But not _ quite _out of options. Not just yet.

He turns on his heel and heads back into the estate. "This is, perhaps, not how I saw events playing out. There has been no sign of the Gedoushu awakening, and the timing might not be right." He mutters to himself. "Nevertheless, I see no other option now. Bring me a brush and paper!"

Kusakabe raises his voice and flicks his sleeves, and a kuroko scrambles to attention. "There is no better way to teach my young lord responsibility than to give him something to be responsible for. Premature this might be but— call for the Shinkengers!"

* * *

Chiaki leans back on the balls of his feet as he looks at all the other guys that apparently got the message, same as he did. There's a girl in pigtails, and some kind of kindergarten teacher lady, and a dude all done up in kabuki makeup and practically vibrating in excitement, and that’s not even mentioning all the wack-ass guys in black in the background trying to pretend they aren't actually there. Like. What the shit is this? If he's gonna be totally honest, he really doesn't like the look of any of this.

Maybe he's a little, kinda, not he'd ever admit it aloud, sorta…

Intimidated?

Like, sure, his dad had told him some stories about "oooOOOooo Shiba Clan and samurai and Gedoushu and whatever" when he was a kid but like, he's gonna be honest here, he really thought those things were just that. Bedtime stories for babies. And the reality was like, y'know, the old man goin' to a dusty-ass estate every so often to do a ceremony and party around with some other old fogeys and shit.

Didn't really sink in that all those swordsmanship lessons were for _ reals. _

He shifts from side to side, restlessly. How much longer is this lord dude gonna make 'em wait?

"_ Lord Dude?! _" The Kabuki kid squawks at him. "Impudent! You will address Lord Takaharu by his proper title!"

Oh, shit, he said that out loud. Chiaki leans back on the balls of his feet, annoyed (and secretly relieved, because if there's anything he's good at it's pissing people off, and this is familiar ground). "Damn, what crawled up your ass and died? Lord this, lord that, I don't give a shit. I'm not gonna call some old fart lord unless he deserves it."

"He _ deserves _ it, as you say, by mere virtue of his existence! You…!" Kabuki guy starts strangling the air, like he's at a loss for words. Chiaki smirks.

The lady in pink sighs and pinches the bridge of her nose. "Please settle down, you two. You're both being way too loud."

"Uhm…" Pigtails finally speaks up, voice so soft Chiaki almost didn't hear her at first. "Is the Lord late? We've been here for a while, haven't we?"

"The lord can't be late—" Kabuki Idiot starts shouting again, before a guy in red— a little older than Chiaki, maybe, but not by that much— drops down from the _ sky _ and lands right on top of Kabuki Idiot. "Oops! Sorry, am I late?"

This is the best day of Chiaki's life.

* * *

Ryuunosuke is not having a great day.

Or, well— he _ was _ having a fantastic day! Earlier! Back when all he knew was that today was the day that he would formally enter service under Lord Takaharu. To know that you have been chosen to serve under the next head of the Shiba clan must be is the greatest honor that Ryuunosuke can think of. He's been preparing for this day since he was born. Isn't it natural for him to be so excited?

It's just that…

Lord Takaharu might not be what he was expecting?

A lord ought to be brave, and kind, and understanding. He ought to be wise, and able to guide his vassals and be worthy of their allegiance. He ought to be a beacon of light against the forces of darkness, a sword in defense of humanity's hopes. This was the kind of lord he had been thinking of, when he spoke up in defense of his lord's honor in the face of that green _ ruffian's _ disrespect.

He doesn't really know how to reconcile that with… this— this hooligan who had knocked Ryuunosuke flat on his back with hardly a by your leave.

"Ah… 'scuse me for asking, but…? Are you the, uh, Milord? I mean, the lord?" One of the girls— the one in yellow— tentatively speaks up.

The man sitting on top of Ryuunosuke finally gets off of him and beams at her. "Yep! That's me, Shiba Takaharu. At your service. Whatcha here for? Seriously, is there a party going on or what? Am I invited?"

If you'll excuse Ryuunosuke's language, what the _ hell. _

"Did… you not call us here? My Lord?" he finally speaks up.

"He did not. I did." An elderly retainer rides up to the scene on a horse. He gets off (more like gracefully falls off, if Ryuunosuke is going to be honest, with a wince and a hand pressed to his lower back) and he bows to the lord, full of dignity.

The lord scratches behind one ear. "Yo, Gramps. What's all this about?"

"Gramps??" Ryuunosuke repeats under his breath.

"Oh man. This guy is _ good. _" The rude one cackles.

The head retainer sighs. "Lord Takaharu, these are the Shinken—"

"The Shinkengers?" The lord interrupts, brow furrowed for a second before he beams so brightly Ryuunosuke feels a need to squint. "Oh _ wow! _ Hey!! I didn't even recognize any of you! It's been like ages since I've seen you guys!"

Before any of them can react, he bounds over to each of them and gives them all hugs. He hugs exactly like how Ryuunosuke imagines a large dog would hug, if it had the arms for it.

"Mako-chan! Love the hair, gotten any better at cooking? Mitsu— no, wait, you're her lil sis, yeah? How's she doin— bet she's great— Chiaki, nice t'meetcha, you look just like your dad, and you! Ryuu-chan! Hahaha, what's the costume for, that looks crazy—"

He cuts himself off in the middle of knocking Ryuunosuke's _ everything _ askew, and frowns. "Wait, Gramps, why'd you call em over? Thought you said that wasn't gonna happen for a few more years."

"I believed it to be necessary," the head retainer replies, stiffly. He kneels and holds out four red phones to the lord. Despite everything, Ryuunosuke's heart races.

The lord simply nods thoughtfully. "Ahhh… I see. Well, I don't need 'em, actually, so you can send them all back. Sorry about that!"

* * *

A pit forms in Kotoha's stomach. (Is it bad that she's relieved that the lord doesn't want none of them, rather than just singlin' her out as the unnecessary one?)

"What do you mean, you don't need us?" The woman with an apron— Mako, she'd introduced herself to Kotoha with a wry smile as the boys were posturing at each other— Mako asks the lord with a frown.

"Well," the lord points out with a real bright grin on his face. "I've been training to be the lord of the Shiba for as long as I can remember, but you guys weren't supposed to be called for years. So I've got way more training than you, so I'm probably a lot stronger too. Don't take it personally, but how're you gonna serve a lord you can't keep pace with?"

"_ Excuse me?? _" The rude boy steps forwards, all good feeling towards the lord gone. "Hey, what the hell man? I don't give a shit who you think you are but how the hell do you know that I can't keep pace with you? I'll kick your ass!"

"My _ lord, _" The loud guy in the fancy clothing adds. He doesn't even realize that he's moving in tandem with the rude boy yet, like two peas in a pod. "Will you really call us inadequate without giving us a chance to prove ourselves? Is that the kind of lord that you are?!"

"Well," the lord says, tilting his head to the side. "Maybe?"

"WHAT KIND OF ANSWER IS _ MAYBE?!? _" Kotoha winces, and she can see Mako covering her ears. The two of them moving in tandem is also twice as loud, apparently.

The lord opens his mouth to say something, except before anything can come out of his mouth, his eyes widen. "Oops."

What? What oops?!? Kotoha looks around in alarm, only to see the lord run over to the head retainer (who'd been standing frozen in shock ever since the lord had said that he didn't need the Shinkengers) and take the four phones from his hands. The lord starts to run, and Kotoha's legs follow him almost by instinct. "Milord, what are we running from?" She asks, wheezing as she tries to keep up. Why are his legs so goshed darn _ long? _

"I'm not running from anything!! I just forgot that I was headed towards a Gedoushu attack when I saw you guys here." Kotoha hears the two boys do a double take behind her. There's a whole lotta swearing.

The lord turns around to face Kotoha and the others— and keeps running just as fast, _ how— _ and asks, genuinely curious, "Hey, are you guys really serious about this retainer thing?"

"It’s what we've been training for," Mako comments mildly, from Kotoha's side. "Shouldn't you know what our duty is?"

"Yep! Gramps explains it to me all the time," the lord beams. "I got at least half of it!"

"Only half?" Kotoha wheezes. She's slowing down. All the other Shinkengers are ahead of her now, even though she got a head start.

"Anyways," the lord continues as if he didn't hear her, "Y'know, Chiaki and Ryuu-chan are right! I shouldn't judge you guys just yet, you're not even done with training! Who knows how good you'll be? Heck, who knows how good _ I'll _ be? So I figured that I'd just ask, y'know. Forget duty and all that, do you really wanna do this Shinkenger thing?"

Chiaki speeds up and grabs one of the phones right out of the lord's hands. "Dude, if I pass up the opportunity to kick your ass at least once I'll be kicking myself for the rest of my life."

Ryuunosuke is right behind him. "Clearly, my lord, you've had a dearth of positive influences in your life, and it falls upon _ me— _" he glares at Chiaki "—to make sure you don't stray further!"

"It'd be a shame to give up here," Mako sighs. "I don't want my training to go to waste like this."

"What about you, Mitsuba's sis? You in?" The lord looks back at her.

Kotoha isn't as good as her sister would be. Mitsuba, she thinks, wouldn't be struggling so hard just to keep up.

But… the lord said to forget duty. And the lord said that nobody knows how good she'll be, too.

What does _ Kotoha _want?

She thinks of the easy calm that surrounds Mako, and the immediate rapport that bound Chiaki and Ryuunosuke. She thinks of the way that the lord smiles. (She's reminded of the way her sister would smile at her, back when she was still well enough to help Kotoha out when she stumbled. It's a smile that means a challenge, and it means _ I know you can do it _ when her sister uses it.) She _ likes _ this group, Kotoha realizes. She's got a really good feeling about this.

Maybe Kotoha's instincts are wrong. But for the first time in her life, Kotoha thinks about taking the chance that she's _ not. _

"The name's Kotoha, Milord." She says, as she holds out her hand. "I know I wasn't who you were expectin', but I'll do right by you."

"I know you guys will!" The lord laughs and tosses the phone to her, as if he never expected anything else. He turns around and picks up the pace. "C'mon, we got Gedoushu to beat. Anyone who gets caught by the kuroko behind us gets an extra hour of scriptomancy practice tonight!"

Kotoha glances behind her and squeaks. That's a lotta kuroko trying to keep up. Some are holding flags with the Shiba clan symbols on them, and some have large rolls of cloth, and even though none of them are speaking there's an air of frantic alarm to them. Kotoha bites back a giggle and runs faster.

…Wait.

She squints and looks back again. Is it just her, or are some of the kuroko frantically waving pairs of hakama in the air?

_ — _

**Author's Note:**

> > the shinkens are much harder for me to write than the ninnins, but i hope i do them justice here. attempted makos pov a few times but shes still much too lowkey in the beginning of the series to facilitate Shenaniganery, so i scrapped her pov and upped her presence in kotohas bit to make up for it  
> i imagine takaharu in here absolutely doesnt know [SHINKEN SPOILERS] but also when he finds out it def affects him the least out of everybody and hes a bit baffled why everyone else is having a crisis. hes still gonna fight the gedoushu with yall, guys, so whats up?  
> the comedy here is that the retainers are entirely unorthodox and half trained at best, and takaharu is basically unhinged but having the time of his life and together they learn responsibility and that if traditions suck you punch tradition in the face. it's a riot
> 
> thanks for reading! i dont have any other fic plans for these two verses but rest assured that in my head ive got elaborate plotlines all in my head. i just don't wanna like. write em,


End file.
